Two of the common effects of aging are the onset of osteoporosis or other degenerative bone disease and the impairment of balance so that falls are frequent and often the cause of serious injuries in the elderly. In particular, fracture of the hip and pelvis are extremely common in older people. Such fractures can occur when a stationary or walking person falls when standing or sitting, if a person falls out of bed, or if a person falls down steps. Additionally, serious impacts may occur if a person is involved in a vehicular accident where velocities are considerably higher.
Persons who experience a hip or pelvic fracture often require hip-nailing or replacement surgery. While such repairs are often quite satisfactory, they are expensive and cause a significant financial drain on the health care system. In addition, patients who experience a hip fracture often experience compromised physiological function as a result of the fracture. In some cases, a patient may die as a result of the hip fracture and its sequelae. Among survivors, a fracture to the hip may also start a downward spiral in health that ultimately may lead to loss of independence and necessitating admission to a nursing home. Although fracture of the hip or pelvis is an injury characteristic and common to falling, many other injuries, especially of the brain, cervical spine, arms, and ribs are also common. Falls are, thus, a major cause of mortality and morbidity.
A person who falls once is often more likely to experience follow-on falls and, potentially, fractures. Such people are clearly at risk and could be identified as being at risk. People can also experience fractures when falling from trees, when skiing, rock-climbing, boating, riding bicycles, or pursuing many day-to-day activities.
In addition, people break more than hips when they fall. Fracture of bones in the neck, the spine, the skull, the arms, and the legs are not uncommon. Ligamentous and muscular injuries can also occur as a result of an impact as can internal organ damage. Even brain damage can result from impacts to the skull.
There are no satisfactory devices available today to protect persons from falls or other impacts in such a way that bone fracture may be prevented during every day activities. While people might wear body armor, helmets and the like, such armor and helmets would be too heavy, bulky, unattractive, and cumbersome for people to be willing to wear on a regular basis.
New devices, systems, and methods are needed to recognize when an individual is falling in order to protect them from the fall or other impacts that might lead to bone fracture and other serious injuries. Such devices are particularly important in the elderly where bone structure and balance may be compromised.